Power-One sells to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and service providers in the renewable/alternative energy, networking equipment, wireless communications, optical networking, server/storage, computer, instrumentation, industrial, and other electronic equipment industries through its sales force, manufacturers' representatives, and distributors primarily in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia. The company was founded in 1973 and is based in Camarillo, California.

Power-One made a profit in 2000 and 2001 (83 cents and 1 cent respectively) but hasn't since, racking up losses 8 years in a row. But that's about to change. This year 3 anlaysts see the company making 41 cents a share (vs a loss of 74 cents last year), then delivering 48 cents a share next year. Earnings for second quarter will be out July 29. They should be 9 cents a share compared to a loss of 70 cents last year. For the third quarter expectations are for 11 cents vs. negative 3 cents last year in the third.

This good news hasn't been lost on investors. The stock is up over 100% in the last 3 months. That's on top of a recovery that saw the stock go from 30 cents in early 2009 to $4 early this year, then $9 before settling back a little. In 2000, the stock hit $89.80.

New markets are showing strong demand, particularly in China and Asia in general for renewable sources of energy. Domestic demand is also picking up as the economy is showing some signs of life. In view of further improvement in the U.S. and Canada, the company is increasing capacity in both countries. It's also focused on efficiencies as it moves operations to several countries to utilize resources better. Plus the research and development department is busy with a pipeline of new products in renewable energy and traditional power conversion.

There's $101 million in cash here, $1.14 a share. That's enough for flexibility and funding for all the expansion and R&D the company has outlined. There's also $74 million in debt or about 35% of the capital base.

More numbers: Price to sales ratio is 1.65. Price to book is 6.57. Book value is $1.38. Operating margin for the last 12 months was 8.85% while Profit margin was .52%. Return on equity was 1.95% and Return on assets was 7.58%. Current ratio is 2.05. Beta is very high at 2.48. In the last 52 weeks, the stock is up 608%. There are 88.04 million shares outstanding. Insiders own 10.51% of the stock. Institutions have 81.20%. There is a relatively large short position as of this writing of 10.39 million shares. That represents about 5.2 days of trading activity with average volume in the last 3 months of 2.610 million shares daily. There is no dividend.

Aggressive investors should find this stock intriguing. The added kicker in all of this story is how the new focus on electric cars will help shape demand for Power-One's products. More electric demand should be coming as the economy recovers, and if electric cars are a great success, then the company should see all of the analysts' projections raised. But before investors get too excited about this stock's potential, remember all the years earnings were negative, and the stock went from $90 to 90 cents in 8 years before recovering.

- Company Web site: www.power-one.com